Specialist Haematologist Dr. Ansah-Otu Williams has debunked and clarified several myths and misconceptions surrounding sickle cell disease.
Providing a breakdown of how an individual can develop the condition, he explained that it is inherited and not spiritually or sexually transmitted, as many people believe.
According to him, a normal human being’s haemoglobin type is AA, which produces normal red blood cells. However, the haemoglobin types associated with sickle cell disease are S and C, which are abnormal.
Dr. Williams spoke on Joy Prime’s Changes show with Roselyn Felli, where he revealed fascinating facts about sickle cell disease.
“This thing is not caused by a spirit. It is also not sexually transmitted in the sense that if you have unprotected sex with someone, you’ll get it, no, but you can transmit it to your children. So we call it an inherited disease,” Dr. Williams detailed.
He went on to say that it takes two people for a child to inherit the condition.
Therefore, in cases where both partners are AS, there is a possibility that the child may inherit the S haemoglobin from both parents.
However, the easiest way for partners to prevent their offspring from inheriting the disease is to avoid falling in love blindly.
“If your mum is a career AS and your dad is also a career AS, you can take the S from your mum and take the S from your dad and end up having Sickle Cell disease. You can equally take an A from your mum and an A from your dad, but it is a probability. So the best way to prevent it is to not fall in love blindly. That is the best way to prevent this,” he urged.
Dr. Williams further advised people who are carriers to marry partners who are AA in order to spare themselves and their children unnecessary stress. He encouraged couples to make it a priority to know their genotype status before marriage.
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